work search and career development blog

The S.A.R. Method

Behavioural Interview Questions ~ These are questions that are asking you to give examples or stories of a time when…

Situation ~ It is important to be as clear as you can when describing the situation so the interviewer does not have any problems understanding your actions and the outcome.

Some questions to consider when thinking about describing a situation:

What was the issue? Where did it happen? How were you involved?

Action ~ The interviewer needs to know how you handled the situation so that they can see how you will handle similar situations in the future. So questions to think about when explaining your actions are: What job did you do? How did you solve the problem?

Result ~ Always tell the interviewer the result. They want to know if your action solved the problem. Some questions to consider when describing the result are: How did the situation end? What was your role in the end of the situation?

For example: Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an angry customer?

Situation: I was working as a Server in a busy restaurant when a customer became very upset because he had to wait a long time for his meal.

Action: I listened to his concern, apologized and advised the customer that I would check on the order. I asked the kitchen to put a rush on his order. When I took it to the table, I offered the customer a free dessert, as this was our policy.

Result: He was happy and left a comment card stating that he would return in the future because I had taken his complaint seriously.

This post was written by Nadine Yacoub a student of the Career Consultant certificate program at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Like what you see? Be sure to follow this blog for the latest and greatest tips, tools and strategies relating to job search! For more information, please contact Lidia Siino, Program Manager at lidia.siino@mohawkcollege.ca. Happy reading!